DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 5)

Toffee_Penny

Jaapie I'm not sure about the mortgage bit but I'm sure someone else will help with that. There is a member called Rayday on here, she owns her own house and took on the DMP herself.

As for the credit, once you default on your account it stays on your credit file for 6 years I believe.

jaapie

thanks for all your advice I think this is the only way left to go now otherwise I cannot see how I can get out of this mess.

Toffee_Penny

You could try doing a runner but with the Euro the way it is it's best to stay at home like the rest of us and face the music

I know it's hard but please don't feel too down about it, it isn't a crime to be in debt

take care

marfan_not_martian

msc1977 wrote: »

mmmm maybe not! I've had the first letter and notification form to copy but i guess the welcome pack come after i've sent back all my statements etc?

Hi MSC1977 - yep when you send the agreement back to CCCS within 7 days you will get a welcome pack from them. Then you should be able to access your account online
xx

marfan_not_martian

Welcome jaapie and well done of facing up to your debt problems

Please dont worry about going onto a DMP - I did the debt remedy plan with CCCS online and it recommended a DMP. Since receiving the paperwork from CCCS and sending copy letters with token payments to my creditors I now feel like I am starting to control this mess we got ourselves into and I feel as if a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

Everyone on this forum is wonderful. Toffee Penny, DLB and loads of other members have invaluable information to offer to you - so dont worry about asking questions. I asked loads when I was first starting to look into a DMP and their advice has made my life much easier.

Good luck and let us know how you get on and remember no question is a daft question.

MNM xxxx:beer:

2spicy

Jaapie welcome. Firstly are you fixed on your mortgage. if you are, how long ?
The DMP is only going to hit your credit score for a max of 6 years ( say 7 if creditors donot default straight away ). Given the sh1te state of the economy, its dowbtful intrest rates are going to climb in the short term (1 - 2 years ) after that, I cannot see any government hiking rates above 3 or 4 % in 4 - 6 years so your better sticking on standard variable rates. That was the advice we recieved when I looked to fix my mortgage before starting my DMP. Actually, when we come out of our fixed rate, our payments will go down !!.
Ride out your DMP and then start to move a percentage of your mortgage to repayment when YOU can afford it.

As for the DMP itself, Tpffee and marfan have said it all really. the most important message is DONOT leave yourlsef short. no one will thankyou if you kill yourself or sacrifice your standard of living to the degree your living on bread and water (unless you are in that situation now!). the DMP is designed to give you a reasonable standard of life and pay the debts. There are some "loopholes" and ways to keep a few pennies back for that special occasion. Were with PayPlan and have found them excellent. others with CCC have also sung their praises too.

Most important, if your stuck, feeling low or just want non-judgemental advice or help, post on here and someone will be around within a few hours

Well done.

2spicy

Forgot to add, you will get nasty calls. Just remember, they cannot have what you donot have.
They will threaten debt collection ( in the worst case ), credit "black mark"s and others will demand payments from debit cards / credit cards.

The Golden rule we have found is ...
Be firm, stand your ground. Tell them your on / starting a DMP and if you have it, give them the DMP reference.
Tell them you intend to pay the debt but you cannot thats why you are making token payments until the DMP is setup.
Remember, for the DMP to work, as others have said previously, you have to treat all creditors equally. that is if one is demanding, tell them you cannot show preferential treatment, and that all creditors will be paid on a pro rata basis ( this also workd when they call you up).
If they ask for debit / credit card payments, no matter how small ( we were asked to pay £10 and that would stop them calling for 10 days!! ). we politely said "no" if we had spare money at the end of the month, we would divide it equally between all our creditors.. etc etc etc.

Some may get obnoxious others will be pleasant.
The worst they can do is Default the account. That is a mark on your credit file and means they then stop interest and freeze the account until it is settled.
They cannot send in debt collectors to your home without a court order. Never let anyone in your home from such agencys. They have no right to approach your house and you can have them removed by the police if they do.

If your unlucky enough to go to court, if you can proove you have a setup and running DMP, then the court usually has no need to do anything further.

You only get into real Legal trouble if you fail to pay after a court has been involved

So. rest assured your on the road to debt freedom

july73

Hi all

I'm planning to start a DMP if it's advised by CCCS. I have my first appointment on Thursday. I have read through some of this thread and up to now, I wasn't sure I was doing the right thing and had been worrying about everything. It is all new, as for all of our life so far have never been in this situation before. So finding it very scary. I have been worrying so much how we will cope even on the DMP. Still am to be honest.

I finally realised today, as I couldn't understand why we were in this mess. We had managed for years without any problems. We have overspent and some has been unforeseen. Today I saw the problem. We lived and afforded credit by using credit. Until now when we hit the wall and couldn't,t afford to pay it all back. I did feel really bad that we were having to do this to our creditors. Which might sound silly. Now I have realised it's actually partly there fault we are in this mess. Chucking money at us, So say helping by consolidating loans etc. They were not helping at all. All they wanted was our money and now I feel uplifted and not guilty anymore. If they had worked out our budget correctly in the first place, they would of seen we couldn't afford to live having this credit.

So to anyone else who may feel that they deserve their money quickly and feeling guilty like I was, think again. They helped get you in this mess. so why should you and your family suffer. They will get there money back in the end and you can get on a live a life again. I now know I'm doing the right thing

PS Thank you this thread has been so much help

msc1977

Welcome July73 and jaapie

We are also in debt 50k+ between OH and I. Alot of it is from when we were both single and carefree - alot of it is because when our first baby was born 5 years ago i took a salary drop in the region of £12k..not through choice but beause of restructuring at work and it was either that or lose my maternity bonuses and possibly job...so anyway with that difference in salary almost overnight you start to supplement your income with credit, the credit starts to dry up and you are only just making minimum payments, then OH gets put on short hours, no overtime and no bonuses and all of a sudden if you're making minimum payments you cant eat or put petrol in the car and if you do eat and put petrol in the car you cant make minimum payments.

This board has been an amazing support and i've only been here a week, i totallysecond everything said so far and we'll go on our debt free journey together!

msc

sam89

Hi to all the newbies,

Just wanted to say that we've been on a DMP since September 2007 and it really is the best thing we ever did. I will never forget the fear I felt before starting, lying awake every night worrying how I was going to pay everything and then writing another credit card cheque to pay the credit card bill . I constantly felt sick.

When you start your DMP you'll have a few months when creditors phone but I found quoting my DMP number was effective and they would leave you alone for a couple of weeks. Some creditors never phoned at all and after 3 months all the phone calls stopped .

I found it really difficult to budget at first, we had lived on our credit cards for so many years it needed a complete change in thinking. It took about 6 months for me to be comfortable that we weren't going to run out of money at the end of the month and we now manage to save a little bit each month and can afford the occasional treat like a takeaway or meal out. It's the best feeling in the world to spend some money and know it's our money, budgeted for, and I won't regret it when the credit card bill arrives :T .

Hope this helps some of you. The next few months will be a bit of a roller coaster but getting your debts under control is very liberating. Ask loads of questions on here, there are people who know lots about DMPs and are very willing to give advice.

Good luck and welcome to the DMP club :beer: .
Sam,
x.